Johnston County switches gears. Students will stick with online classes for now.
Johnston County students won’t return for in-person classes in September as planned.
Johnston County school leaders had planned to begin in-person instruction on Sept. 8 for elementary school students and K-12 special-education students in self-contained classrooms. But on Thursday, the school board voted 4-3 to extend online learning for the district’s 36,000 students through the end of the first grading period on Oct. 15.
Superintendent Eric Bracy said it’s not safe yet to return for face-to-face classes, noting how Johnston County has the ninth highest number of COVID-19 cases in the state. He said the district’s new COVID-19 dashboard (johnston.k12.nc.us/dashboard) shows 14 employees tested positive for the coronavirus in August and 65 employees are under quarantine.
“At the end of the day, we cannot fix a child who has died from COVID,” said board member Terri Sessoms. “At the end of the day, we cannot fix a staff member who has died from COVID, and this is I hope for a short period of time.
“But Johnston County is going to have to decide that it wants to get rid of this virus and do the things that it takes to make this virus not be an issue in our county. Until that happens we’re going to have to continue to kick this can down the road.”
Motion to bring students back in September fails
But other board members argued that remote learning isn’t working, especially for the youngest students. A motion to continue the plan of bringing K-3 students and self-contained students back on Sept. 8 while only delaying grades 4 and 5 was disallowed because it came after voting had begun.
“Our Pre-K, our kindergarten, even first- and second-graders, it’s hard for them to do this virtual education,” said board member Teresa Grant. “I mean we’ve got parents and kids in tears over this experience so far, and we’re only on Day 9.”
Johnston’s decision comes as other Triangle districts, including Wake, Durham, Orange and Chatham counties, also plan to continue remote instruction into October. Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools is planning to use online classes for the entire fall semester and don’t plan to send students back to campus until January.
Johnston County had joined the majority of North Carolina school districts in opening the school year last week with remote instruction. More than 70% of the state’s public school students are using remote learning at the start of the school year.
The district’s plan was to have elementary students come back to school two days a week and the self-contained special-needs students have four days a week of in-person classes. They would take part in remote learning the other days.
Middle school and high school students were to continue using remote learning indefinitely.
Students not in school since March
Most of the state’s students haven’t had face-to-face classes since Gov. Roy Cooper ordered schools closed for in-person instruction in mid-March to try to slow the spread of COVID-19.
Cooper allowed K-12 public schools to reopen in August under a “moderate social distancing” plan that limits how many students can be in schools and on buses. This Plan B also mandates daily temperature checks and health screenings, increased school cleanings and that face coverings be worn by all students and school employees.
Plan B requires schools to limit capacity so they can maintain 6 feet between people in classrooms. Bus capacity is reduced to a third of normal under the new social-distancing requirements.
But Cooper also gave school districts the option to use Plan C, which only has remote instruction. He’s not permitting schools to reopen for full-time, in-person instruction, which is Plan A.
School districts that have reopened under Plan B have dealt with COVID-19 cases among students and staff.
Some districts have had to temporarily switch individual schools from in-person classes to remote learning because so many staff members are under quarantine.
Board debates delaying return to October
Bracy, the superintendent, said Thursday that coronavirus trends have become worse in Johnston County. He said restarting face-to-face classes now would increase the number of COVID-19 cases among students and staff.
“I am concerned about the health and safety of our students, our staff members and our families,” Bracy told the board. “I’m very concerned about the virus spreading more in our schools.”
Board vice chairwoman Peggy Smith said so much of the data used to inform their decision to bring students back on Sept. 8 is “no longer relevant or accurate.”
“As much as we all want this to happen, I’m with you with in supporting our superintendent,” Smith added. “He has studied the data. He’s talked with people. He’s been out in the schools, and that is where we have to err, which is on the side of safety.”
But board member Ronald Johnson said he wants to provide parents the choice of either an in-person option or an online option for their children. He added that “there are risks associated with everything in life.”
“I feel that if a parent has made the decision that they want their child go to back to school — and we told them Sept. 8th — then who am I say your child doesn’t belong in school,” Johnson said.
Johnson was joined by Grant and Michael Wooten in voting against delaying. Sessoms, Smith, board chairman Todd Sutton and Tracie Zukowski voted for the delay.
This story was originally published August 27, 2020 at 7:02 PM.
